This invention relates to the provision of telephone service via the Internet and, in particular, to a system that enables a customer who accesses a WEB site on the Internet to initiate a telephone call via a WEB page user interface, from any location and from any multi-media personal computer (or other customer terminal device), without the need for the customer to have previously downloaded and accurately configured the client side internet provider specific telephony software for this telephone service on the customer""s accessing personal computer.
It is a problem in the field of Internet or IP telephony to provide customers with access to the telephone service without the need to have previously loaded and accurately configured Internet provider specific telephony software on the customer""s accessing personal computer. IP telephony can be defined as using the xe2x80x9cInternet Protocolxe2x80x9d network of Internet connectivity, which reaches around the globe to all developed countries and most developing countries as the network to route telephone calls to PSTN or standard telephone switching networks. In reality, the Internet, the connectivity for which to the individual user is routed over PSTN networks. That is, people make local calls on a normal PSTN telephone line to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and gain access to the rest of the Internet by utilizing TCP/IP or Internet standard protocols.
In operation, presently available Internet telephony service requires the customer to load an Internet telephony software package on the customer""s personal computer in conjunction with establishing a billing account for this telephone service. This process executes on the customer""s personal computer and enables the customer to access a specified and dedicated Internet telephony server to thereby obtain access to the Internet telephone service. The need to install Internet provider specific telephony software on the customer""s personal computer represents an impediment to customers who access the Internet from various computers, since each personal computer used by the customer must be equipped with the same Internet provider specific telephony software. In addition, the existing dedicated Internet telephony software operates to the exclusion of other Internet access software, thereby failing to coordinate with other Internet accesses that the customer may wish to concurrently execute with the Internet telephony call. Thus, the presently available Internet telephony service represents an inexpensive alternative to standard long distance telephone service, but presents a number of constraints to the customer in order to obtain the benefits of low cost communications services.
A further problem with existing systems is that they are not adapted to be used in a cellular communication environment, nor are they capable of initiating a directory assistance function and automatic connection to a designated called party.
The above described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present universal Internet based telephony system which is implemented as a process that is accessible via an Internet WEB page and which executes on the WEB server that hosts the WEB page and/or a back-end Internet telephony server which is accessed and controlled by the WEB server. The customer accesses the universal Internet based telephony system via any existing Internet browser software resident on the customer""s multimedia terminal device, such as a personal computer, either as an adjunct process thereon, or as a dedicated Internet telephony process. This is accomplished by presenting the universal Internet based telephony system to the customer as an accessible service option on any Internet WEB page, typically in the form of an icon presented thereon. Alternatively, the multimedia customer terminal device can be equipped with an icon which presents the universal Internet based telephony system to the customer as an accessible service option. When a customer, who has accessed the Internet WEB page either via the multimedia customer terminal device based icon or Internet browser, clicks on the universal Internet based telephony system icon, regardless of where the icon resides, the WEB server on which the WEB page resides executes the resident universal Internet based telephony system hyperlink script and transfers a newly opened browser session to the universal Internet based telephony system WEB site. Once connected to the customer""s terminal device, the universal Internet based telephony system WEB site presents the customer with the data entry fields for their account number and the telephone number of the desired destination (called party). The WEB server uploads an applet to the customer""s personal computer to run on the client machine without disturbing the customer""s existing WEB page access, by opening up a separate window on the customer""s terminal device for the Universal Internet based telephony system, to be seen and operated by the user. The universal Internet based telephony system WEB site then extends the Internet telephony communication connection from the customer""s terminal device to an Internet telephony server/network, forwarding the customer provided data to enable the communication connection to be extended by the Internet telephony server/network to the designated destination.
Thus, the customer can access Internet telephony service through any hosting WEB server (where one of universal Internet based telephony system""s affiliate links resides; and functions on any web page served up on the WEB) as the access point, and by using the existing Internet browser software that is resident on any multi-media terminal device. The customer""s Internet login and password and the dynamic URL capture of the affiliate WEB site represent the universal Internet based telephony system billing data, which are provided by the customer from any terminal device. In addition, the universal Internet based telephony system process can be installed on any WEB server and the routing of the Internet telephony calls from the WEB server to the designated destination is implemented as a background process via an Internet telephony server/network, in a manner that is transparent to the customer if the customer chooses, as the universal Internet based telephony system page opens a new browser session in a new window which can be minimized during the conversation allowing the user to continue browsing the site from which he/she initiated the universal Internet based telephony system icon while talking to the called party.
Furthermore, the WEB page can present a plurality of universal Internet based telephony system icons, with the icons representing either general Internet telephony service access or xe2x80x9chard-wiredxe2x80x9d access to dedicated destinations. Thus, the customer who accesses a particular WEB server that hosts a commercial enterprise can be provided with a plurality of universal Internet based telephony system icons which are representative of a number of destination choices, such as: customer service, sales, product support, manufacturer""s service representative. By selecting one of these dedicated destination icons, the customer activates the universal Internet based telephony system to automatically initiate an Internet telephony call to the identified destination while concurrently maintaining the customer""s access to the present WEB page. The Internet telephony call that is originated from an affiliate WEB page is routed to an Internet telephony host, with the customer""s login and password being forwarded as the customer billing data and the WEB server URL being forwarded to provide the Internet telephony host with data regarding the universal Internet based telephony system retailer (affiliate) who is assigned credit (pursuant to the retailer""s affiliate agreement with Universal Internet based telephony system, Inc.) for the Internet telephony call initiation.
The universal Internet based telephony system can therefore be used to route customer inquiries to predefined destinations while the customer concurrently has access to the data provided by the WEB page, or the WEB page owner can become a universal Internet based telephony system affiliate and simply resell the universal Internet based telephony system that is provided by an Internet telephony server/network through the universal Internet based telephony system web page and related servers.